Anti-Flag – A Document of Dissent: 1993-2013

Once you’ve been a band for several years, you create a sound – a style that is distinctly yours and yours alone. They can become benchmarks, something that people try to copy but never quite reach. No matter what album you pull from, there’s always a certain quality in the song writing, the production and tone that says “Yes, this is this band.” Alkaline Trio. Descendents. Bad Religion. NOFX. Bouncing Souls. These bands deliver a song that one second in you hear and know who they are. Their discography can be mixed and matched and it all still flows.

Twenty years into their career, Anti-Flag are another band to add to that list.

A Document of Dissent: 1993-2013 culls a total of twenty six songs from the political Pittsburgh foursome into one tidy package. Picked from nine full lengths released through a total of six record labels, the album showcases the band’s ferocity and tenacity after twenty years of delivering political punk rock anthems.

What makes this stand out amongst the crowd is the fact that every song is so vividly Anti-Flag. Whether it’s the fury of Die for Your Government or the grandiosity of Bright Lights of America, the songs tinge with the same sonic structure. The guitar work shines through, angular and crisp, Pat Thetic’s drumming grows in technicality over the years but remains at a tempo ripped for the circle pit. Justin Sane’s vocals, with the nasally undertowe and Pittsburgh accent spits political protest songs built around simplistic, placard-ready sing along choruses while the bass puslsates through your momentum.

Yes, there’s an increased in maturity between say Fuck Police Brutality and Underground Network or between This Machine Kills Fascists and 1Trillion Dollars. There’s improvements lyrically, intellectually and musically but they always stay Anti-Flag and unlike some bands who’s career paths can be charted by distcintive sounds that are complete three sixties from their prior releases, A Document of Dissent flows like a cohesive album.

Of course, in today’s era of iPods and self-curated playlists, Best Of albums are essentially useless. Fans of the bands already have every single one of these songs and a second copy of it won’t add much to their music collection. But what it does do is remind you to listen to one of the scenes best and longest-running punk bands. Because while I’ll always listen to Turncoat while I think of Anti-Flag, Spaz’s House Destruction Party won’t come to mind immediately and the reminder is more than welcome.

Fat Wreck has said the real gem in this release is the insightful liner notes saying: “The band illustrates each song’s history and includes a biographical timeline of the band’s history alongside world events and how some of those events inspired classic ANTI-FLAG songs.”  None of this is on my digital copy, so I can’t comment on any of that; but as an Anti-Flag fan that doesn’t listen to Anti-Flag nearly as often anymore, A Doccument of Dissent is a welcome reminder of one of the bands that first got me into this scene over ten years ago.